The Awakening Read Online Free PDF Page A

survive."
    "I've never had a direction that wasn't
someone else's," he said with a frown. "If we get through this, I
don't know what to do."
    "One day at a time," Zac said, slapping
the spy on the shoulder. "One day at a time."
    Casting a look back at the cell, Nye walked away,
continuing down the passage. They hadn't gone far when Zac clamped a hand on
his friend's shoulder, stopping him mid-stride. Pressing a finger to his lips,
he nodded in the direction that they had been headed. Through the darkness that
had turned into murky moonlight from high-set windows, they heard movement.
    "The executioner's rooms," Nye
whispered. He eased open the door and before he could call out, he was
pulled inside. Zac ran after him and saw it was Pyke in full vampire
mode. The vampire pushed the spy back against the wall, fangs bared, and
when he realized who he was holding, his eyes settled back into their ordinary
brown hue.
    "Calm down, mate," Nye exclaimed, holding
his hands up.
    "Nye?" Pyke dropped him abruptly,
standing back a few paces.
    "What a warm welcome," he replied,
cracking his neck.
    Pyke glanced at Zac and his eyes darkened.
"And you ."
    "Yeah, and me," Zac sighed.
    Pyke sat back down on the makeshift bed along the
far wall, running hand over his face. He looked strung out and his usual
scruffy demeanor was all over the shop. "I assume you want something."
    "I'm sorry I had to deceive you," Zac
said. "But, I had to so I could end Regulus."
    Pyke snorted. "Aye, I get it, but you didn't
have to put me through a windshield in the middle of nowhere."
    "Would you believe me if I said I was sorry
for that, too?"
    "No."
    Zac let out a laugh. "If you were in the same
position, you would've done the same thing."
    Pyke narrowed his eyes before shrugging.
"Aye."
    "What are you doing here, Pyke?" Nye
asked. "You could've gone anywhere."
    "I had nowhere else to go," he replied.
"I didn't expect to be turfed out on my own."
    "When I had nowhere else to go, I went
home," Zac said, thinking of the manor back in Louisiana. "You never
forget your first home, even in death."
    Pyke looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You're different."
    "I suppose so."
    "I gather you've taken what was Regulus'. It
doesn't mean that I will swear fealty to you automatically."
    "I've taken nothing, Pyke. I don't want
it."
    The vampire sighed sharply, standing to face Zac.
"Then why are you here? Why are you bothering me?"
    "The Coven have awakened something
terrible."
    "And why should I give a stuff?"
    "You know the Hunter is a hybrid with a
creature of power," Zac began.
    "Yeah, so what?"
    "There's one of two people it could be. The Original
Witch, who was driven insane by the blood of a star…or a hybrid vampire
belonging to a dead race of creatures like the Hunter. The difference being
that they are an original hybrid. Created, not turned."
    Pyke's eyes widened. He got it. Aya was a force to
be reckoned with and it had taken her hundreds of years to learn control and
even now it was tentative. This hybrid would never be able to grasp even a
semblance of that notion. The witch would be just as dangerous, but at least
Aya might have a chance at stopping her. The hybrid…not so much.
    Coraline had mentioned to him before she'd left to
go to Ireland with Maximus that it could be a Tuatha. A fae from the old
stories of Ireland. That was one for the too hard basket.
    "We need your help. Your help. Together
we have a chance. Alone we have none at all." Zac stared him down,
refusing to back away.
    "And what are you doing down here
anyway?" Nye asked. "Wasting away to a shadow. Living in a life long
gone. You want a purpose? He's giving you one."
    "Will you come with us?" Zac asked.
    Pyke looked like he was going to cave, but shook
his head. "No. Not right now." Nye gave him a look that said not
likely . "I'll meet you at the apartment soon enough. That's all I
can give you right now."
    "We could really do with your help," Zac
said. "If a day or two is what